Battle of Silva Arsia
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- Roman victory
- Defeat of monarchist forces and maintenance of Republican government.
| Battle of Silva Arsia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Roman–Etruscan Wars | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Roman Republic |
Tarquinii Veii | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Lucius Junius Brutus † Publius Valerius Publicola |
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus Aruns Tarquinius † | ||||||
The Battle of Silva Arsia was a battle in 509 BC between the republican forces of ancient Rome and Etruscan forces of Tarquinii and Veii led by the deposed Roman king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus ("Tarquin the Proud"). It resulted in victory to the nascent Roman Republic.
Everything that is known of this battle is from the Roman historian Livy, writing centuries after the event around 27–25 BC. The stories of the Tarquin dynasty and the founding of the Roman Republic are legendary to a large degree, and it is unknown how closely traditions of the 1st-century BC era matched the actual history. Book 2 of The History of Rome recounts beliefs about how Tarquin the Proud was expelled and his attempts to return with an allied army of Etruscans. Livy also includes a duel to the death fought between Roman consul Lucius Junius Brutus and Tarquin's son Aruns, in which both died spearing the other. He does not say where precisely the battle took place, but does say that the Roman god Silvanus made a prophecy of Roman victory in the Silva Arsia (Arsian forest), a place of unknown location but presumably on the border of Rome's territory and Veii's territory.
The battle was one of a number of attempts by Tarquin to regain the throne. It can also be seen as part of the Roman-Etruscan Wars, a series of conflicts between the Etruscan cities and the expanding Roman state.
In 509 BC, the Roman monarchy was overthrown and the Roman Republic was established with the election of the first consuls. The deposed king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, whose family originated from Tarquinii in Etruria, garnered the support of the Etruscan cities of Veii and Tarquinii, recalling to the former their regular losses of war and of land to the Roman state, and to the latter his family ties.[citation needed]